The AQUAculture infrastructures for EXCELLence in European Fish research (AQUAEXCEL) will coordinate the highest class European aquaculture research facilities covering the entire range of production systems (recirculation, flow-through, cage, hatchery and pond systems), environments (freshwater and marine, cold and warm water), scales (small, medium and industrial scale), fish species (salmon, trout, sea bass, sea bream, cod, carp…), and fields of expertise (nutrition, physiology, health and welfare, genetics, monitoring and management technologies and engineering). AQUAEXCEL will: (1) Link and coordinate key research infrastructures in Europe: cage, recirculation and hatchery aquaculture systems, land and sea based, fresh and salt water installations in order to create the basis for synergistic research projects; (2) Provide research teams with access to a wide range of the state-of-the-art infrastructures covering all important aquaculture species, systems, environments and expertise; (3) Increase resource sharing and standardization between partners, notably but not exclusively for fish models and experimental methods developed in-house; (4) Execute joint research and development activities designed to improve the services currently provided by the infrastructures (remote access and monitoring, more accurate performance evaluation, limitation of live animals use, applicability of results at industry scale, development of biological models); (5) Bridge the gap between the scientific community and the industry through stimulation of problem-based research and enhanced knowledge transfer AQUAEXCEL will facilitate a coherent development of the aquaculture research facilities for which there is a strong demand from the public and private sectors of aquaculture research, which have to work towards sustainable production of high quality seafood with reduced environmental impact.
